Where is my Hard Core Herbalist badge?
Well, it’s happened. I’ve gone from making some sweet rose water hydrosol and a little herbal iced tea to administering field first aid using herbs at hand. This is the first time that in feel I might just have a skill that could actually be useful to the family in the case of the zombie apocalypse (as they have pointed out to me on numerous occasions, my primary skill of organizing and labeling things might not be all that helpful in the end times.)
I went down the road to one of the local orchards to cut some globe thistles. I have become semi-obsessed with this plant since I saw them at Manito park a few weeks ago. I ordered a few plants for me and Montana to start in our respective gardens, but I couldn’t resist taking advantage of a little local u-pick.
These are pretty beastly field plants, so I had to use a pruning saw to harvest them. In doing so I managed to cut my arm with it, of course.
Here’s the herbal story that ensued:
These plants are honestly so great. How did they never catch my eye before? They have everything I seem to love in a plant: rangy, prickly, and blueish!
Okay, here is the life-threatening injury up close and personal. While yarrow is allegedly a blood-stop herb also, there was no need for that here. Just checking to see if it calms the angriness of the cut itself.
Found my stem.
Oh, while I was cutting the yarrow I noticed these blooming beauties planted nearby in the waterwise perennial bed!
Back to the serious first aid work - washed it first of course.
Cut leaves and also added some flowers, just because.
This is the hard core part: I actually put them IN MY MOUTH and chewed them up a bit! Yes, you read that correctly!
Here’s the disgusting result! Too many flowers, first off - they’re too crumbly. But the flavor is kind of hard to describe - I thought it tasted a little licorice-y (which I love in tea, for example) and also maybe like a pine forest. Not terrible though.
I put the poulstice on my arm for a few minutes, and honestly, it really did a good job of just calming that jagged cut down! I will try it again next time using only the leaves and chewing them a bit better now that I am not afraid!
Look out - the next step in the 7 Circles of Herbalism is dandelion tea, and then you will know I’ve really lost my mind!
They need to be cut down a bit (but I didn’t really trust myself with the saw anymore today), but the globe thistles look terrific in the living room. Once the leaves dry up and crumble away, those flower heads will still look basically the same and can be used in dried arrangements.
